DEFINITION: The word homeopathy is taken from the Greek omeos, meaning “similar” and pathos, meaning “suffering.” Homeopathy means “to treat with something that produces an effect similar to the suffering.” This is distinguished from allopathy. Allopathy is taken from the Greek word allos which means "another or other" and the Greek pathos which means "suffering." Allopathy means to treat with something that produces an effect different from the suffering. Allopathy is what is commonly used in America and other Western societies to treat disease while homeopathy is more commonly used in European and Eastern societies to treat disease.

The term homeopathy was coined by a German physician named Samuel Hahnemann in a book published in 1810 called Organon of the Art of Healing Organon is a Greek word which signifies “the means.” The medical modality of homeopathy was the result of 20 years of research by Dr. Hahnemann and his associates.

DEVELOPMENT: It all began when Dr. Hahnemann began experimenting with various herbs and other substances by ingesting them to determine what effect they would have on his body and mind. For example he took Peruvian bark which was used to treat a person sick with malaria. To his surprise, he found that by taking this substance he was able to produce in himself the same set of symptoms as those suffered by the person sick with malaria. The same substance used to treat the disease also caused the disease.

After testing many other substances used to treat disease, he found over and over again that the very substance used to alleviate symptoms in a sick person would create those same symptoms in a healthy person. This led to the now famous mantra of homeopathy that “like cures like.” It became known as the “Law of Similar's.” A substance which produces symptoms in a healthy person cures those same symptoms in a sick person.

Dr. Hahnemann compiled an exhaustive list of symptoms that were found to be associated with the ingestion of a great variety of substances. This process became known as proving. Volunteers were given a substance and had their reaction to the substance recorded.

Having compiled an extensive list of substances and what symptoms they produced, Hahnemann proceeded to begin using these substances to treat various sicknesses. While he found that patients would get cured, they often would suffer initial severe aggravation of their symptoms. Hahnemann then reduced the dose of the substances he was giving patients to one tenth the original amount of the solution/remedy. This reduced the aggravation of symptoms. Hahnemann proceeded to dilute his medicines still further all the way down to where the substance had no effect because there essentially was no medicine left in the solution. This whole procedure proved to be problematic in so much that one could never be sure at what dilution level a medicine would lead to a cure without aggravating the symptoms.

Hahnemann then made an interesting discovery. When he submitted a solution to a series of vigorous shakes (succussions, as he called them), the solution would not only become less aggravating or non-aggravating to the patients symptoms, but the substance became more potent and, therefore, more effective in facilitating a cure. Hahnemann had in essence found a way to produce a healing agent without any side effects.

Depending on whether a substance was soluble in water or alcohol, he would mix one part of the substance with ninety-nine parts of water or alcohol and then submit the mixture to one hundred vigorous shakes. Then he mixed one part of the mixture he had just shaken to ninety-nine parts of a new amount of the liquid he was using and again shook the mixture one hundred times. He would repeat this process up to thirty times and found that even with dilutions that showed only one molecule of the original substance left in the solution, the remedy was shown to be effective in facilitating a cure and with absolutely no side effects.

ENERGY FIELDS: Hahnemann had discovered what later became known in science as “Brownian Movement.” which shows that all molecules contain energy and the particles contained within them move at high speeds. It was this discovery that led to nuclear fission and fusion leading to the production of atomic energy. These findings show that all matter is in fact energy and in homeopathy, the repeated dilutions and shakings of a substance release a curative energy inherent in the substance.

The fact that homeopathic remedies contain no detectable material trace of the original substance and yet facilitate a curative effect, shows that the shakings transmit energy from the original substance to the fluid or neutral matter in which it is diluted. Hahnemann concluded that homeopathically prepared remedies were working at an energy level and not a material level. Since such remedies have a curative effect on the body, he further concluded they must be affecting the body’s energy field. He therefore determined that the basic cause of illness is a disturbance in the bodies energy fields, or as he called it, the bodies vital force.

Energy fields, vital force, are common considerations in health modalities such as acupuncture, acupressure, and even chiropractic. It is felt that if you can bring the body into a balanced state of energy, you can bring about a curative effect. Homeopathy is a healing modality based upon stimulating and altering the vital force of the body.

Hahnemann believed that morbific agents such as a virus, bacteria, fungus, etc. exert their own vital force against the vital force of the human body, and this is what creates illness with its accompanying symptoms. He felt that it was not a matter of the morbific agent causing illness but rather the person’s susceptibility to such agent due to a disturbed vital force.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HOMEOPATHY AND ALLOPATHY: There is a major difference between homeopathy and orthodox medicine, also known as allopathy. The allopathic doctor generally looks at microbes as the cause of disease, whereas the homeopathic doctor looks at microbes as the result of disease. The allopathic doctor will give the patient something to relieve the symptoms caused by the activity of the microbe. The homeopathic doctor will give the patient a remedy that will activate and realign the body’s vital force. Once the vital force is activated and realigned, the body’s defense systems will be effective in handling the microbe. Therefore the homeopathic doctor deals with what he considers the underlying cause of disease, whereas the allopathic doctor deals with what is only causing the symptoms of disease.

The drugs the allopathic doctor gives will often kill the microbes and give symptomatic relief to the patient. Such drugs, however, will often produce side effects such as destroying friendly microbes, and creating toxicity in the body which lead to additional health problems. Homeopathic remedies, on the other hand, to not kill the microbes causing your symptoms but work at a deeper vibrational level within the body to activate the bodies vital force to deal with the illness. Homeopathic remedies do not have side effects or cause toxicity.

HOW HOMEOPATHY WORKS: Homeopathic remedies appear to work by affecting the body’s electromagnetic fields. Electromagnetic fields are characterized by the phenomenon of vibration. As electrons race around the nuclei of atoms, they oscillate back and forth at specific frequencies or vibrational levels. Homeopathic remedies appear to work at the vibrational levels of the atoms that make up the body. Therefore, these remedies work with the bodies energy fields in facilitating healing.

Since all substances possess electromagnetic fields, the task of the homeopathic doctor is to find the substance with a vibration rate most closely matching that of the patient during an illness. The patient’s vibration rate is determined based on an analysis of the symptoms being experienced by the patient. The vibration rate of the remedy used is based on past proving of that remedy.

When the vibration rate of the patient and the remedy match, a phenomenon known as resonance occurs. This results in an increase in the patient’s electromagnetic field at the precise frequency needed to facilitate a cure.

This process is known as classical homeopathy where only one substance is used as a remedy having a vibrational frequency that best matches that of the patient. In recent years, combination remedies have become very popular where several substances are used in a remedy with the idea that the body will pick out the substance that will most closely match the vibrational level of the body at the time. While classical homeopathists frown on such remedies, the fact remains, they do work.

HOW ARE HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES MADE? While there are several ways homeopathic remedies are made, a common method begins with 1 milliliter (ml) of substance (the Mother tincture) and 99 ml of solution (water or alcohol) placed in a glass flask. This solution is then shaken 100 times achieving a ratio of 1 to 99. Then 1 ml of the solution just shaken is added to a second flask of 99 ml of water or alcohol and again shaken 100 times. This is referred to as the centesimal scale method of dilution. Centesimal means one-hundredth of something. The number of times this procedure is repeated with a given substance will determine the potency of the homeopathic remedy. If this procedure is done six times, the potency would be a 6c. If done 12 times it would be a 12c, and so forth. With each successive repetition of this process, the amount of the original substance becomes less and less in the solution while at the same time the solution itself becomes more potent due to the number of shakings (succussions)

Another method follows the same procedure as above but does so according to the decimal scale. Decimal means one-tenth of something. Under this system you add one part Mother tincture to 9 parts solution. This produces a 1x potency. As the procedure is repeated, the potency level increases as in 3x, 6x etc. Because the decimal scale uses a ratio of one to nine and the centesimal scale uses a ratio of one to ninety-nine, remedies labeled as X potencies are less potent than C potencies. For example, even though a 6x and a 6c receive the same number of succussions, because the 6x is in a 1 to 9 ratio and the 6c is in a 1 to 99 ratio the 6c would have greater dilution than the 6x and therefore be more potent. Potency is determined by the number of succussions in conjunction with the ratio of dilution. A 12x, even though receiving more succussions than a 6c, would still be only as potent as the 6c because the 6c has a much greater dilution ratio than the 12x. Remember, in homeopathy, greater dilution creates higher potencies.

As a general rule, a 3c will be approximately as potent as a 6x; a 6c will be approximately as potent as a 12x, and so forth. It is not known how they differ qualitatively, as the X potencies in the above examples have received more succussions than the C potencies. The best potencies for treating acute illnesses are often 6c or 12c. They are strong enough to address most acute symptoms. Remedies in 30c and 200c and above are better used with professional guidance. They also have a narrower range of action, so the prescription needs to be more precise than for lower potencies in order for the remedy to work.

Homeopathic remedies are usually natural substances such as herbs, minerals and animal derivatives that have been steeped in alcohol or water (a tincture) or ground in a mortar and pestle (triturated) and then diluted or pounded many times. The number of dilutions and poundings determines the potency. Homeopathic tablets are often made by adding liquid dilutions to lactose which acts as the carrying agent for the remedy.

At Milk ‘N Honey we carry both single and combination remedies in both liquid and tablet form. Many of our liquid remedies are in a non-alcohol, water solution.